Chasing after dreams
by Miyu Hinamori
Summary: The war with Whitebeard ignites a new crew to go to the sea. Meet Anne who's determined to find Luffy and beat him up when she does! Rated K for the violence that comes with One Piece.
1. Meet Anne

My first One Piece fic! Woohoo! Hopefully I'll get a lot readers for this one.

Please read my other fic too! ^^

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, 'caus if I would I wouldn't let Ace die, never! Waaaaaaah, Ace! *cries*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Chasing after dreams**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Chapter 1: Introducing Anne**

FuushaTown. A quiet village in Goa Kingdom known to be the home to the pirates Monkey D. Luffy, Portgas D. Ace, Marine hero Monkey D. Garp and the number 1 criminal Monkey D. Dragon.

A girl runs frantically through the village. She has black hair in a ponytail and big brown eyes with a small scar underneath the left. She wears a little red dress and sandals.

People look up to her, only to return to work after they see she's just a villager like themselves.

She starts slowing down when she reaches the port only to stop completely when she arrives at the old pier.

She breathes some air in and yells to the sea: "Baka-Luffy! Baka-Ace!"

She sits down with her feet dangling from the pier holding her tears up.

"Ace-nii…Don't you dare die, Luffy! You promised!" she cries.

A woman comes close to her. "Anne..." she says quietly.

"I told you to leave me, Makino." says the girl now known as Anne.

Makino sits down next to her and pulls Anne closer.

"They only said in the paper that he suffered severe injuries. Luffy won't die just like that."

"He better not!" she sits up straight. "He better not break his promise like Ace-nii did. I won't forgive him ever. Just like I'll never forgive Ace for just dying like that."

Her eyes start filling with tears. She shakes her head and mutters: "Don't cry, don't cry."

Makino smiles at the stubborn girl.

"It's better to release your tears instead of holding them up like that."

"I don't care, I won't cry."

Makino smiles again. "Luffy also used to cry a lot."

"Well I'm not a thing like him." Anne exclaims, while new tears are finding their way to her eyes.

Makino pulls her closer. "Go ahead and cry. You cried when Sabo died, right? Why won't you cry for Ace?"

"_Take me with you!" a small girl yells to her three 'brothers'. "Not a chance!" Luffy yells. "Not until you can keep up with us." Ace laughs. "Well, maybe we could take you with us?" Sabo says. Luffy and Ace both fall comically. "You're too soft on her!" they burst out on the blond boy. "Well she_is_a girl. Our 'sister'." "I'm not a 'sister'! I 'm a 'brother', just like you."  
Smirks spread across the faces of her 'brothers'. "If you're a brother, you'll get to come with us,…when you can catch up to us!" and they ran away laughing. "Bye Anne." Sabo smiled apologetically. She tried to keep up but tripped and by the time she stood up, the boys were nowhere to see. "Meanies!" She sat on the ground and sobbed. Suddenly she was lifted up in a tree and before she could even scream, she was clinging unto Ace's back. "Guess there's nothing I can do. Hold on tight, 'caus I ain't holding you!" Anne smiles broadly. "Un!" "Now who's too soft on her?" Sabo grins. "Aw, shut up!" "Hey Ace, not fair! You wouldn't ever do that to me, unless I was injured or nearly drowned!" "Your fault for being able to keep up. We're going to leave you behind if you don't hurry, Luffy!" "Ah, matte, wait!" Everybody laughs._

Remembering this memory, finally brings all the tears out.

For the loss of her 'brother' Ace, his little 'sister' cries.

Two weeks later.

"It's Garp-san! Garp-san has returned from Marineford!"

The news spreads like fire though the village.

"Everyone. How are you doing?" "Garp-san we read it in the paper. What happened to Luffy? What'll happen to the world without Whitebeard? There've been pirate ships in the sea. We can't sleep at night."

Everybody throws their questions at Garp.

"Ah, don't worry about that, we just sank one before we landed. Novice pirates aren't as prepared as they were." "Really! That's great!"

He then turns over to his men.

"While the world is in turmoil, we'll have to keep an eye here. Don't let your guards down even if you're in peaceful East Blue."

"Osu!" A while later, there's already a sign standing at the coast with the marine emblem on it.

"Now that's reassuring!"

"Garp-san, there's something else. For the past days some mountain bandits have been occupying Makino's bar."

"Bandits?"

"Garp!" A large woman, to all of us known as Dadan, steps out of the bar and punches him in the face.

"Vice Admiral Garp!" His subordinates hurry to his side.

"Leave her alone! I know her." Garp states calmly.

"You were right there with them! Why didn't you anything! Why did you let Ace be killed?" she rages while tears are falling at Garp's face. She then begins pounding on him.

"Is your job that important to you? More than your family! Drop dead, you stupid old man!"

"Boss stop it!" Her troops try to stop her to no avail when suddenly Makino jumps in.

"Stop it, Dadan-san!" Dadan is just stopped in her tracks and she and Garp just looks astounded at her.

"Garp-san was right there and he couldn't do a thing! He's the one hurting the most!"

Silence falls until it's broken by Dadan.

"No. Luffy…is the one hurting the most."

"_I'm Ace! Who're you?" The boys and Makino are sitting in front of the bandits' hideout practicing manners._

"_Dame, you can't just say 'Who're you?'. That's rude." Makino smiles while making an X with her fingers._

"_It's 'who are ya', right?" Luffy adds._

"_Whom are you?" Ace tries again, while losing his patience a bit._

"_Hahaha. Boys, you can't be serious?"_

"You know how much he loved his brother." Makino cries running away, tears running freely on her face.

The mayor steps in: "Garp what happened to Luffy? The paper doesn't even mention if he's alive or dead."

"He escaped on a submarine. We couldn't find a wreckage, so he must be alive."

"Of course he is, he won't just die like that."

A fifteen year old girl in a red dress approaches the group and when Garp sees her his eyes soften.

"Anne."

"I'm going to prepare a meal." She states while entering Makino's bar.

In the bar she hears Dadan saying something about Luffy.

Garp comes in when the food is ready.

They sit next to each other silent for a couple of minutes.

"So how are you, Anne?"

"I'm fine, jii-chan."

*silence*

"So about my offer last time. Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm not joining the marines."

"But"

"And I'm not planning on becoming a pirate. I'll continue staying here at Makino's, helping her."

"You sure? That sounds nothing like you."

"Perhaps, but I like this way of life: it's calm and if I want adventure, I can just go for dinner in the forest."

Garp sighs.

Suddenly there's a big commotion outside.

"Pirates!"

Garp grunts. "Who has the nerve to attack a town under the protection of the Marine?"

"I'm Crescent Moon Gyari! Capatain of the Crescent Moon pirates! Marines, meet your doom!"

Anne giggles. "There's your answer."

As Garp makes his way outside, he turns back to Anne.

"Won't you join me?" He knows she had been training with the boys since she was little.

"Nah, you'll handle it yourself. I need to clean the dishes." She turns to go to the kitchen.

Garp smiles sadly.

"She used to be such a cheerful girl, just like Luffy. Guess Marineford was a shock for her. At least she won't become a pirate." He mutters as he goes out.

Shortly after that the noise subdues and Makino joins Anne.

"Did you mean that?"

"Mean what?" Anne asks innocently.

"That you're staying here with me, instead of traveling the world?"

Anne turns to her, grins and shows her index and middle finger crossed over. _(For the ones who don't know, you do that so you can lie to someone.)_

"Like heck I am!" she laughs.

"When I'm seventeen, I'll become a captain myself, just like I promised them. I just had to lie to jii-chan or he would've dragged me to the marines."

Makino smiles.

"But he probably couldn't do that because of my heritage." Anne adds.

"Saa..."

"So you're disobeying old Garp and plan on becoming a pirate?" Dadan, who just walked in, cuts in.

"You do know, he's going to blame me, do you?" she asks menacingly.

Anne just smiles broadly.

"Yes!"

They all laugh and even Dadan joins them.

_A long-time promise! It won't be long until it will be fulfilled. Seventeenth birthday only a year and a half away!_

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Chasing after dreams~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Hope you liked it! ^^

This is not a one-shot, I'm gonna have this story be a long one and I hope you will stick with it to the end.

Please check out my other stories too.


	2. Author's note

**Author's note**

Well how do you like it?

Personally I don't think it's bad and I still have great plans for this one.

But now I'm having a problem; few problems actually:

*I need a hat for Anne. All the boys have their own hat so Anne should also have a significant hat, but I can't make out what kind of hat she should have. Maybe let her copy Luffy, since she looks like him and make her wear her own straw hat, of course not from Shanks.

*I planned for Anne to have met Shanks along with Luffy and I want her to receive something from Shanks too but I can't make out what. The best I could think of is a red ribbon to tie her hair with it.

*The name, oh the name of the crew is something I struggle with too. It's of course not until they have a little crew that they're going too have an official name but I want to make one up soon. And I also need a flag, of course.

*I want to give Anne a devil fruit but I can't think of any. I would like it to be a Paramecia or maybe a Logia but definitely not a Zoan: I've already come up with a crewmember who has a Zoan. I'm playing with the idea of letting her have the Mera-Mera no mi (Ace's devil fruit) but I'm not too confident about that one.

*I'm not confident with writing about battles, so could you give me some tips on how I should handle those scenes?

*Enemy pirates, I need enemy pirates. I've already come up with two but they will not show up until the end of the East Blue Saga. Send me your enemy crews!

*Allies would be great too and I can't seem to make up what the crew-doctor and shipwright would be like. If you have suggestions I would like them to be boys since I already have made up too many girls on the crew.

I think that's all. Readers, could you help this newbie author and give her some suggestions regarding these points I just told you?

You can give all the suggestions you want, but I would very like it if you wouldn't flame me. You can criticize me but don't just tell me outright I suck, okay?

Next chapter will be published as soon as I have solved the issue of the devil fruit, hat and villain of the episode.^^


	3. Romance Dawn

_Hey, I'm back with another chapter of 'Chasing after dreams'. I'm sorry for being so slow on updating but it's harder to put ideas on paper than I that. What can I do, I'm a novice._

_Enjoy! ^^_

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything bla bla bla, Oda Eichiro, you know the drill._

_Update 07/10/11: Yeah I decided to change the whole strawhat thing 'caus I think it just doesn't fit Anne. I'm just going to go with the ribbon-thing._

Chapter 2: Romance Dawn

_"Makino, Makino, look!"_

_Three weeks have passed since the war between Whitebeard and the marines._

_Makino looks outside the bar to see Anne calling out to her with a news coo held tightly in her hand._

_"Look, Makino, lo-ow!" Makino holds a small laugh when Anne stumbles._

_"What is it? Why are you holding that coo?"_

_Anne stands up, panting, before she says: "He's alive! Luffy's alive!"_

_Makino smiles. She already suspected as much. Luffy had become stronger._

_"I see, but why are you holding that coo?"_

_Anne blinks and looks at her hand. Makino mentally slaps her forehead. 'She forgot about him, didn't she?'_

_"Oh, right. He wouldn't give me the paper so I had to take him with me. Stupid bird. Ow!"_

_After hearing that she called him a stupid bird, the coo bit her face._

_"Why you…!" What followed was a short fight, where it wasn't clear who would win: man or bird. (Picture it like the fight Luffy had with Shu Shu)_

_"You know, if you give him some money, he'll give you the paper."_

_"You need to pay for it? Can you cover for it? Put it on my treasure tab."_

_Makino smiles at her. "Sure, with all those treasure tabs running I'll be rich when they will be paid off."_

_She takes some money which Anne accepts and attempts to give to the coo. Emphasis on attempts. He keeps turning his head from the money. After continuing like that for a while, she hits him again, only for them to start fighting again._

_Makino had a hard time holding her laughter. Finally she paid herself for it and the coo, after glaring at Anne, flies away._

_They start scanning the paper and both sigh relieved when they find the page with Luffy's picture. He was heavily bandaged, but it was Luffy no doubt. He had his straw hat in his hand and was apparently paying his respects to Ace's grave._

_"What do you think he's doing, Makino?"_

_"I have no idea. Why did he get himself photographed?"_

_"I don't care about that. I meant his hat, why did he take his hat off?"_

_Makino almost fell off her chair. "Maybe because he's paying his respects to Ace."_

_"Yeah but there's something that tells me there's more to it."_

_Makino glances at the girl who was thinking the hardest she could do._

_"Mou, the only thing I can think off is him quitting our promise, but that's not it." the girl then finally moans in frustration. "There's something else. There's something in this photo, but I can't find it."_

_Makino looks at the photo more attentively, but can't find anything out of the ordinary._

_"Yosh, I've decided. If he doesn't show up by the time I become a pirate, I'll go search him and I'll pound him until I feel better. Until then I'll keep on training so I'll be able to surpass him."_

_Makino smiles at her. "Do your best." "Oh!"_

It's been one and a half year since the war. The world has changed significantly everywhere, but Fuusha hasn't changed much. Until today.

"Anne! Anne, where are you?" Makino walks around the forest searching for the seventeen-year old girl.

"She can't have left already. We just celebrated her birthday three days ago." she mutters.

Meanwhile Anne's sitting at the cliff where the brotherhood ceremony was held. She doesn't remember coming here or even how long she was sitting there, staring at the sea. A day? A week? She even forgot her hunger, an amazing feat! Of course occasionally falling asleep.

She finally turns around and looks at the two crosses she made after the war. One has Sabo carved on it, the other Ace. She refuses to put up a third cross. She sits behind the crosses on her knees, so she sees the crosses and the sea and clasps her hands together in prayer.

"Brothers, I'm going to become a pirate, just like you did. It killed you, but I know you have no regrets. Don't worry, I'll be okay. I'm a lot stronger than I was before. Before you sitting is not the crybaby I used to be. Please give me your strength and guard over me."

She then proceeds to the end of the cliff and breathes a lot of air in so she can yell her promise to the sea.

Makino was still searching everywhere for Anne, when she hears her.

"Luffy! I know you're somewhere there! I'm going to find you and beat you up for making me actually worry about you!"

"There she is. Should've known she would go to the cliff." she sighs in relief. Then she hears Anne again.

"I'm not going to lose to you because I'm a girl. I'm going to be a great pirate if not the greatest pirate in the world, just you wait!"

Silence then falls in the forest and Makino starts walking to the cliff.

She hears a lot of noise as she approaches the cliff and when she arrives, she sees Anne roasting a giant boar.

'That explains the noise. She was probably staring at sea again and forgot her hunger. Now she needs to catch up.'

Anne turns around as she hears a noise to see Makino coming closer. Mouth full of meat, her face split in a huge grin.

"Hey Makino! :D"

"You could've told me you were going to come here. I thought you had already left."

"I'd never leave without telling anyone. And I actually don't really remember I got here. I just did."

Her face then becomes a bit worried when she remembers something.

"Makino, you okay? You said you didn't feel so well, didn't you?"

"Don't worry about me. You better worry about burning your boar."

"Aah!" Anne quickly starts putting out the fire.

Half an hour later the boar was eaten.

"Aah, that's a lot better." Makino just smiles at her.

"You're going to leave today." No question, a statement.

"Hai." "You're going to gather a crew here in East Blue."

"Yes and I'll start with going to Shimotsuki village."

"Oh and what do you plan on doing there?"

"I heard Luffy's first mate Three-swords Roronoa Zoro came from that dojo, so there'll probably be some strong people. Then I'll look for a navigator and a cook and... well, I'll see what will come."

"You aren't planning on attracting a lot of attention, are you?" "Well I won't exactly ask for attention, but I'm sure I'll get plenty with Jii-jii on my tail." "People are gonna associate you pretty quick with Luffy, you know? You three look a lot like each other, even if you don't share blood. Especially with your scar." She was right. Beneath the girl's left eye there was a scar just like Luffy's except Anne only has one stitch in her scar whereas Luffy has two.

"I don't worry about that, it just ties me more to Luffy." Anne touches the scar and smiles.

"Did I ever tell you how I got it?"

_"I'll show you that I'm just as strong as Luffy!" little five-year old Anne bursts out at Shanks' crew._

_She had declared she would become a pirate and one of the men had had the nerve to actually say what a little girl like her could do unlike Luffy with his devil fruit._

_She was currently fuming with anger and swept her loose hair away, before she spoke again with a very serious face; a rare thing for such a cheerful girl._

_"Luffy," she demanded. "give me your knife."_

_The six-year old first blinked in confusion, then when realization hit him, his face split in a big smile. He handed the knife over to her while the pirates just looked in confusion and without a moment of hesitation she thrusted the knife in her face under her left eye._

_"Ahaha, that didn't hurt one bit." she then says with eyes full of tears and shaking voice._

_The pirates, especially Shanks, screamed in horror while Luffy was just laughing._

_"Anne! Get that thing out of your face! You crazy?"_

_When everyone calmed down, Shanks had already put a patch on her face, with some worry still on his face, but overall proud of the two brave kids before him._

_"So you're going to become pirates and beat my crew?"_

_Anne nodded while Luffy said: "I'm going to become the Pirate King! And get a crew greater than yours!"_

_Shanks smiled and took his hat off. He cut the ribbon from the hat, tied Anne's hair with it and put the hat on Luffy's head._

_"So you're gonna be better than us? Then I trust you two to bring this hat to me whole when you both become fine pirates. It's a promise."_

_The two cried quietly when the Red-Hair pirates boarded their ship and sailed away._

"Ah, so that's what happened with his ribbon. I had a hard time putting a new one on his hat after that."

"Yeah and that's why Luffy can't die. We have to bring Shanks' hat whole to him."

They then stood silent for a while before descending back to the village.

In a couple of hours everybody was warned that Anne would depart that day and a crowd had already gathered at the small boat in which Anne would begin her adventure.

"Tch, another disgrace to the village." the mayor grumbled. "Don't fall out of your boat, hammer."

"I won't." Anne laughed.

"Isn't Dadan-san coming?"

"No, she isn't, but I already told her when you went to warn the villagers." Anne grins remembering the look on Dadan's face when she had hugged the bandit. Priceless! XD

"Take care of yourself, Makino. Don't get sick." "I will, I will."

"Well it's time." Anne sits into her boat and turns the sail to catch some wind. It's a windy day, so she catches some real quick.

"Bye everybody. I'll see you in a couple of years!"

"Goodbye Anne! Fare well*! Have a good trip! Make sure you find Luffy!"

Anne waves to them until they can't see each other anymore.

"Haven't seen her this happy for a while." "I hope she will be okay." "She will, she's not just any girl, she's our Anne." The people then depart one by one for their own businesses.

Meanwhile Anne is already at full sea. She turns her back to the direction of her village and inhales a lot of air to let it out in a yell: "I'm gonna find you, Luffy! And I'll make sure you'll regret you didn't let me know where you are! I'm gonna be greater than the Pirate King! I'll be the greatest pirate in the world!"

Another pirate is setting out to the vast sea.

What adventures will await this girl?

Next stop: Isshin dojo.

*Fare well: it's apparently a common greeting to someone who goes out on a long seatrip, so it's not like they're saying 'Farewell'. You get what I mean?

Alright the next chapter Anne will go to Shimotsuki. Will she meet someone? I think she will.

You're still free to give me some ideas on Anne's devil fruit and of course the villains. I need those! I intend to let her use her devil fruit in the next chapter and I need to come up with a villain for the next chapter. That's a lot of work but I'll get there. Ideas are welcome.

I'm also still accepting Oc's for the cook and shipwright job. Allies are also being accepted.

Please keep on reading my stories. ^^


	4. Meet Rei

_Here I am finally. I had some trouble with my schoolwork. I'm in my senior year. But finally here is the third chapter from 'Chasing after dreams'._

Chapter 3: Meet Rei

It's a calm day out in the sea. No storm to be seen anywhere. A wonderful day to go out on the sea.

And still...

"Mou, I don't understand anything of this map."

Anne is sitting in her little boat obviously troubled. And lost.

"Makino said Shimotsuki village shouldn't be very far. So why can't I find it?" she yells out in frustration.

"Mah, can't do anything about it, can I? I can at least enjoy the breeze."

If anyone was with the girl at that moment, they would've fallen over because of the girl's mood swings and carelessness.

She lay down to watch the clouds drifting and didn't notice herself falling asleep.

Hours later she finally drifted to an island.

Many people were very wary of the little boat which drifted on the shore seemingly uninhabited.

When some dared to sneak a peek, what they saw wasn't in the least what they expected, but who would expect a girl lying there?

They were actually very relieved to see it wasn't haunted or even worse: a trap from a pirate!

Little did they know a future pirate was lying there.

While they were discussing what they should do, Anne woke up.

"Ah, that was a nice nap." she exclaimed stretching herself out. Then her gaze turned to the people surrounding her boat.

"Who are you people?" Some fell over by this statement and the others yelled at her: "That's what we would like to know."

"Never mind that," brushed Anne them off. "Do any of you know where Shimotsuki village is?"

They all looked at her to see if she was serious and when they saw she was, one of them answered reluctantly: "Umm, that's over there."

"Really?" Anne beamed. "That's great!" She set the boat on the sand and turned back to the villagers.

"Do any of you know where to get meat?"

"Yeah, in the bar in the village."

"Great, I'm starving." she grinned.

"How many days have you been in the sea?"

"Just a few, I'm starved!"

Everybody sweatdropped. 'This girl is unbelievable.'

Meanwhile Anne was already proceeding to the village.

"Aah, I forgot to ask where the dojo is!" she exclaimed, earning a few glances in her general direction, but she immediately shrugged it off.

"I'll just walk around and see."

She proceeded walking while looking around. She noticed some dojo-looking buildings but none of them had a sign so she just ignored them.

Then she finally remembered her hunger and following her instincts she ran into a bar.

"Meat!" she demanded as soon as she was in.

"C-certainly." said the bartender.

For the next thirty minutes everybody was goggling their eyes at the seemingly harmless girl who was still eating and apparently wasn't going to quit soon. Soon, though, she stopped. "Aaah that was good, I knew I should've brought more meat with me. Excuse me," she turned to the bartender, startling him. "do you know where a good swordsman dojo is?"

"W-well, if you just keep going down this road, you'll see a dojo with still his board on, but are you sure you wanna go there, young lady?"

"Absolutely sure." Anne grinned. "Thank you, sir." She stood from her chair, put something on the bar and then left the bar.

"What a pleasant girl." the bartender thought. He then picked up what he believed was money, which Anne left behind, only to discover it was a scrap of paper. There was something written on it though. 'I.O.U. treasure. Anne'

"Why that little...!" he cried out before he began the chase after her.

Soon he had her in his sight. "Hold it! You need to pay for your food!" he bellowed.

"I left a note, didn't I? I'll pay you back once I have a treasure."

"No you have to pay immediately!"

He chased after her for a good while but then lost sight of her.

Meanwhile Anne was sitting in a tree pouting. "I said I'll pay him back. Luffy, you baka, it doesn't work."

She stayed in her tree and noticed she could look in a dojo. There was a boy practicing with his two swords.

The boy looked like he was her age and had bright red hair.

He stood still for a while and then thrust his swords forward on the dummy before him. "Yin: path of bravery!" he yelled out. He stood still and the dummy fell before him in three pieces.

"You showing off again, Firetoruuuuch?" A boy two feet taller than the redhead appeared. The redhead glanced at him and turned to another dummy.

"You came to challenge me again, Shotaro?"

"Damn right I am! You cheated, that's why you won last time!" A couple of guys behind him, his fan of sorts, chorused: "Yeah, yeah, that's right."

The redhead sighs. "Can't you just accept somebody younger than you won from you. It's not that difficult, you know."

"Shut up! Shut your ass and fight me!"

"That's going to be hard. Shutting my ass, I mean. But I think I'll take up your challenge."

'Ooh, this is getting fun!' Anne thinks, getting herself comfortable in the tree to watch the show.

"Hé, I'll win this in a jiffy, Firetorch! I've been practicing hard, so there's no way I'll lose from somebody who isn't even learning this dojo's school"

'Hmm? What does he mean by that?'

What happened next was too quick too process. One moment Shotaro was charging up to 'Firetorch'. The next he was flat on the ground with one of Firetorch's bokken on his neck.

"You're starting to work on my nerves. Get out before I beat you up." The boy speaks menacingly.

Shotaro scurries away with his gang while screaming: "This isn't over, you hear me?"

The redhead just sighs and goes to the two swords lying on a bench and just as he wants to sit down to start sharpening them, he hears some rustling in the tree. Instantly he grabs his swords and gets in a stance.

"That was awesome, how did you do that!" The rustling in the trees was obviously Anne who by now has jumped down from the tree.

When the boy sees her, he scowls and puts his swords back. "What does a girl want from this dojo?"

"Why did you put your swords away? You don't think of me as a threat?"

"Tch. I'll repeat it one more time: what does a girl want from this dojo?"

Anne pouts, but quickly recomposes herself. "My name is Anne from Fuusha village. Care to introduce yourself? It's only manners." she grins.

A vein appears on his forehead, but he answers nonetheless. "My name is Rei from the Isshin dojo."

_Yup yup, This is Rei. I hope you'll like him._

_Again sorry for not updating for so long but I'm busy and I have exams now. I'll try to be faster._

_Check my put my other stories too! Coming up is a +Anima-Sonic the hedgehog crossover. Ow yeah! XD_


	5. The boy with red flaming hair Part 1

_Boy was I shocked when I saw the date of my last update! Has it really been that long? I know it has been long but I thought I had submitted the last update in June this year. Wow, time is such a strange thing. I apologize profusely and hope you're all still with me._

_For those of you who also follow my other story 'Epilogue', I'm almost there, I promise. It's just that I was struck by inspiration for this story and am now on a roll here. But don't worry, the deadline for the next chapter is within a month. It will be maximum a month before you will finally get the new chapter of 'Epilogue', I promise!_

_Now we proceed to the story right after this disclaimer._

_Disclaimer: One Piece isn't the property of the fanfiction author who goes by the name Miyu Hinamori. Like really I wouldn't be able to pull it off, because WOW MAMA this week's chapter (690) was beyond epic! XD_

* * *

Chapter 4 CAD

_I'm Rei from the Isshin dojo." The red-haired teen grumbled._

"Nice to meet you, Rei." Anne chuckled. "Wait, Isshin dojo? That sounds familiar…"

'Oh brother, she's one of those, isn't she?' Rei thought.

"Rei-kun, what's all the racket outside?" a calm voice says. Shortly after a middle-aged man steps out of the head building.

"What do we have here? Hello miss, welcome to the Isshin dojo for swordsmanship. My name is Koshiro and I'm the head. With whom do I have the pleasure?"

Anne smiled and made a bow. "A pleasure to meet you, sensei. My name is Anne. I'm from Fuusha village on Dawn Island and came to visit your dojo. This is the dojo where Zoro the pirate hunter had trained, right?" she inquired.

Koshiro smiled. The girl was very well-mannered and he didn't feel any ill will from her. She came here with a goal, not just mild curiosity.

"Why don't you enter and we'll talk about it inside. Rei-kun, you come too." And he pierced Rei with the most authorative stare befitting of a dojo master. Yet he still was smiling.

Rei who was trying to make his escape while Koshiro was talking with Anne, stopped and drooped his shoulders. There was no way Koshiro was going to let him walk away.

"Hai, sensei." He said reluctantly.

A bit later they were all inside, seated at a low table each one on a cushion. Rei sat next to Koshiro and Anne on their opposite.

Anne looked around her. The house was simply furnished, nothing unnecessary. A house for those who practiced the way of the sword. There were swords on the walls and one wall curiously had a holder without a sword. Very strange as that wall normally held the family sword.

Underneath the empty holder a shrine was made with only two tablets and two photos. One was of a beautiful woman and the other of a young girl, ten years or so.

'His wife and daughter, probably.' Anne thought solemnly. This man knew the pain of loss.

"So Anne-kun, I gather from your words you're interested about Zoro-kun?" Koshiro gently interrupted her musings.

Anne snapped out of her thoughts and turned to Koshiro. "Well, I'm not exactly interested in him as I am in this dojo. Roronoa-san is said to be a strong man and I thought this dojo held similar men in both strength and skill. I just started out as a pirate you see and am looking for crewmembers." She grinned.

Both men stared at her. That they hadn't expected.

Oh Koshiro was hiding it very well. It wouldn't do for a swordsmaster to be easily startled but Anne had almost managed to do it.

But Rei was another story. Just as Koshiro had composed himself enough to try to answer her, he was cut off by the young swordsstudent.

"What in the world are you thinking?! Willingly becoming a pirate, a criminal? A girl like you?" He glared at her as if she was the source of all the problems in the world.

"What's wrong with being a girl?" Anne cheerily asked.

"Are you really asking that? Girls are weak! They're weak and stupid and only get themselves killed if they venture outside in the world. People die! And yet you…" He didn't complete his sentence.

Anne was staring at him in a way that made him feel very uncomfortable. Plus he felt Koshiro's silent disapproval. "Argh, forget it! I don't even know what I'm doing here!" And with that he stormed out of the house.

Koshiro heaved a sigh. "Please forgive Rei-kun's rude behavior." "That's okay. What does he have against girls anyway?"

Koshiro regarded the girl before him again. She just sat there calmly sipping her tea, no outer reaction whatsoever at what Rei said. It wasn't just that she didn't show it, Koshiro realized, she really didn't care about that stuff. Was it naivety or utter self-confidence? Other than that he didn't feel any evil intentions…

Yes, this girl could be trusted and perhaps…

"It's a long story, do you have the time?" Anne grinned. "I'm a free pirate, I have all the time in the world." Koshiro allowed himself a smile at that before starting the story.

"Rei's parents were my longtime friends, swordsmen both themselves and traveling all around. It was a small happy family. Sadly they had died in an accident on sea when Rei was still young and he was thus entrusted to me as he had no other family. He and my daughter grew rather fond of each other, like siblings and they saw each other as siblings, even if they didn't share blood."

At this Anne smiled.

"But things weren't meant to be. Just a year or so after Rei-kun came here, he was about six-seven years old, Kuina died in a stupid accident. It left a mark on Rei-kun. I had always been saying girls would grow weak as they grew up and now Rei began taking on that statement."

"Why did you say that?" Anne interrupted. "That's a stupid thing to say."

Koshiro just smiled sadly. "Yes it is, but I saw the same happening with my wife and wanted to guard Kuina from any disappointments. But she was so talented, I shouldn't have worried."

The room grew silent, before Koshiro broke it.

"I know Rei called you a fool for wanting to go to the sea, but I know he actually wants to go to the sea himself. Not just because he wants to search for Zoro-kun, but also for himself. If he's willing to go with you, you have my permission. He'll be a valuable asset to your crew with his swordsman skills."

At this Anne smiled her wide grin. "Yeah, I saw him practicing. I'll go talk to him, he doesn't seem so bad really."

Koshiro nodded his approval and watched her leave the room after bowing one more time. He himself stood up after a while and went outside to study the horizon.

Maybe just maybe Zoro would come rowing here in a dinghy from the Grand Line with that terrible sense of direction of his.

Instead of Zoro there was a ship at sea, seemingly headed for the island. From the looks of it, it looked to be quite grand.

Koshiro furrowed his brow. He knew what that ship meant. He didn't know its intentions, though he could guess, but he knew firmly:

"That's not Zoro."

Following the direction in which Rei ran off, Anne soon found herself at the shore again, though it wasn't the one where she had landed. After wandering a bit she finally heard a harsh voice somewhere above her.

"What do you want?" Rei grumbled. Anne looked up and found her prey high up in the tree.

Grinning she set up on climbing the tree herself, when she narrowly avoided an apple thrown at her head.

Picking it up and turning it over, she grinned again at the grumpy boy. "Thanks." She said taking a bite out of the fruit. "I wash jush hungry."

"It was meant to hit you." He grumbled again, but he didn't stop her from climbing this time. She settled on a branch not too far from the other teen.

"You look like a monkey." Rei scoffed.

"I learned to climb thanks to my brothers."

"Pirates too, just like you, I presume."

Anne giggled. "Well you can't really call me a pirate, since I don't have a crew yet. But yeah, two of them were pretty infamous pirates. Well only one of them still is. The third died before he had the chance."

They didn't say anything for a while.

"Why are you telling me this?" It was obvious Rei was a bit startled on the news.

"Well first of all, it's only fair, since I heard about your past from Koshiro-sensei."

Rei's face became thunderous at once again. "Stupid sensei…"

"Second of all" Anne continued as if she hadn't heard a thing. "I don't really mind telling you. My brothers and I, we promised each other we wouldn't regret a thing in our life. We swore it as we became 'brothers'. So I know they were happy."

Something in her voice made Rei turn away his gaze from the sea and look at her. "You were not blood-related?"

"Un. First it was me and Luffy. Then Ace-nii and Sabo-nii." A sad smile featured her face. "It was fun."

"Woah, woah, woah, wait a minute!" Do you mean Hiken no Ace and Mugiwara no Luffy!? They're your brothers?!"

"Yeah." Anne answered matter-of-factly. "We grew up together on the same island. At first we weren't even friends, but then Luffy got attacked and they worked together to beat up a pirate. And he was just seven at the time. Ace and Sabo were ten. Anyway I wasn't with Luffy at the time, so I don't know the details. Jii-chan made me stay at the village when he sent Luffy to live with a bandit in the forest. Of course I sneaked away as soon as I got the chance. The woods were much more exciting. I met Ace and Sabo and we had a lot of fun. Then there was the sake drinking and we became 'brothers'."

They sat there for a while. "You're a bit of a motormouth, aren't you?"

Anne looked up and smiled at him instead of answering. She turned her gaze then to the sea and promptly jumped down.

Her whole body was tense and Rei knew something was wrong. He followed her gaze and saw a ship coming closer. A ship with a black flag. Three seconds later something black was launched from the ship and exploded in the village, the force almost knocking Rei out of the tree.

Rei swung himself down and ran back with all his might to the dojo. 'Kuso, why did I leave my swords!'

Anne watched him go and whistled in admiration.

"Man he can run fast. But I am faster." She grinned and set to running.

* * *

_So for those of you who have been following this story already, you've probably noticed my style has changed somewhat. And thank god for that because I read my earlier chapters and am in horror. Did I really write that and think it was ok? Ok so it wasn't that bad and I won't change it, but it was still a pleasant surprise to see that I've improved. Well that's my opinion, I don't know what you think._

_Anyhow, although I haven't really changed anything in the previous chapters, I have corrected a bit of my grammar. Just saying._

_Now for some shocking news: I won't be ending this story. _

_Hold your horses! I will make sure to write a fitting ending for it, but I just won't write the whole adventure until they meet Luffy. Yes that was my initial plan, but I realised I've been doing it all wrong. Take Rei for example. Okay he's maybe not so bad (who am I kidding I love him), but my other planned crewmembers were all also connected to the Strawhats like Rei and Anne were and that's wrong. Like I had a girl whose parents were from Ohara and they survived because they weren't on Ohara at the time of attack, but they knew Poneglyph and taught it to her too. And now she was searching for Robin because Robin was an actual survivor. I still don't think it was such a bad idea, but then I had a crazy scientist who washed up at Baratie, had lost his memory and continued working there. He looked up to Sanji and regrets not being on the Baratie when Krieg happened because he was out shopping. _

_One such character is okay, but in the end the crew turned out to be an almost copy of the strawhats and that's just wrong. So after Rei joins Anne's crew (I give it two or three chapters), I will make a timeskip of half a year and write the meeting between the Strawhats and the Red Ribbon Pirates (see the reason of the name in two chapters).  
After that it's the end. If you liked the way I write, don't worry: I've already planned the story and characters of another One Piece OC-story: New Waves. The characters are better developed and the Strawhats are just an object of admiration._

_See you soon!_


	6. The boy with red flaming hair Part 2

_I'm so so bad. I have once again updated 'Chasing after dreams' instead of the long-promised 'Epilogue'. I'm sorry my readers I truly am. I'm in a bit of a dip with the ending of the newest chapter right now and I didn't yet have the time to seat myself at the computer and force myself to write no matter what. I promise it will come soon, I really do. You have all been so patient with me and I promise you it will be rewarded._

_In the meantime here is the new chapter of CAD. Only a couple of chapters left and it will be over!_

_Disclaimer: All the characters that were named by Oda Eiichiro are his. All the characters I created are mine. It's as easy as that._

* * *

Chapter 5 CAD

Rei didn't stop even once on his way to the dojo and stormed inside almost running into Koshiro.

"Sensei! What was hit?" "The look-out tower but that's not important now. Quickly hide in the shed with the other children." "What?! No way! I'm going to fight with the rest of the villagers. Those pirates will not raid this town!" "Oh no you won't. Calm down and listen to me Rei."

Koshiro had grabbed the boy by his shoulders to hold him still.

"Did you see that flag? Those aren't your ordinary pillaging pirates. These are the Ruff pirates led by Ringo 'The Ruff'. They're infamous for abducting promising children and recruiting them. If someone fights back, they take someone of their family as a prisoner to force them. Fighting against them will not help. They will instead overwhelm you with their numbers and you can't raise a sword against a child. I heard some of them are just five years old and if they turn out to be useless they are sold in slavery."

Rei paled a bit at that last piece of information, but composed himself quickly.

"I can't just hide and do nothing, sensei! I'm not a coward! Let me get my swords!" But Koshiro wouldn't yield. "Your swords are being looked after. You must hide. Now!"

Displaying a strength rarely seen in the master swordsman, Koshiro pushed the still protesting Rei towards the shed. "I'm seventeen for heaven's sake! I'm not a child!"

Suddenly the door burst open when another cannonball fell on the courtyard, leaving a giant hole in the grass and knocking the both of them off their feet.

"Plunder and pillage, you guys! Take everything of value!", they heard over the commotion outside. There were children everywhere, all Ruff pirates and Rei saw lots of sword students engaging in fights with them.

The butcher was knocking them down by heaps and his wife and daughters were taking the unconscious children inside to nurse them back to health and provide protection. The fishermen were making due with their fishing nets and Rei heard someone yelling that the marines from the next town were alerted. An adult pirate was dueling with an ex-marine who sometimes visited the dojo for demonstrations and another pirate was yelling at the children again to pillage and plunder. Rei was certain that in other parts of the town similar scenes were taking place and damned be his family name if he wasn't taking part in it.

Ignoring the protests of Koshiro he took one of the swords on the wall and ran outside. He was immediately attacked but he deftly blocked. He then spun around and slammed his attacker in the wall with the back of his blade. It was just a child after all, younger than him by some years. He was good, but still had much to learn.

Stepping away from the kid, he was already confronted by another one. This one was at least sixteen and looked a bit sturdier than the other but still was smaller than him. The kid started off with a feint, but it was quickly intercepted by Rei. Slash after slash were then launched by the kid, but Rei kept blocking them. But although he had been taught the Isshin way of the sword, he wasn't as proficient with one sword as he was with his own family's way of two swords.

It is a bit weird considering he lived at the Isshin dojo with the master and thus had the duty of passing on the art. To be honest he didn't even know his family's name. Koshiro only told him that his family's way was called 'The Way of Two'. Whenever Rei would ask for more, Koshiro would just smile and tell him that he would find out on his own.

Koshiro insisted Rei would learn both styles but still set the tone with 'The Way of Two'. When Rei had learned everything Koshiro had known, he started to read the scrolls left behind by his father. He still wasn't a full master, but with each practice he got closer.

'If only I had my swords right now. This would've been much quicker.' He mused after sheathing his temporary sword. Behind him his opponent crumpled on the ground from the iai-attack he had just suffered. Again Rei had administered it with the blunt side of the blade but the force alone was still enough to have caused some broken ribs.

Mumbling an apology, he ran again, searching for the pirate captain Ringo, who had forced these children to fight. It wasn't long before he reached the townsquare and found him standing in the middle of it.

Ringo 'The Ruff' was a very gruff-looking man with large beefy arms and legs. Je was leaning on a very heavy-looking bat and a nasty grin on his face with lots of rotten teeth and one or two missing. His brown captaincoat was full of stains and his bald head was covered with a surprisingly clean captainhat. His chin on the other hand was covered with a frazzled dirty blond beard of several days old.

He was talking with some of his crewmembers behind him who were surveying the loyalness of their young 'charges'.

A sensible person would now first set up an ambush or something similar and additionally ask for help from a villager. He would also maybe listen in on the conversation the pirates had because they were standing next to a bush and find out their plans before doing anything. There are lots of things a sensible person could or would do.

But Rei was as fiery and hotheaded as the color of his hair and although he was very intelligent and collected at other times, when the fire gets to his head…

"Omae!" Forgetting he wasn't as strong with one sword as he was with two and completely consumed in his sense of justice to protect his village, he charged full-on with the sharp edge of his sword.

Which was stopped by the bat now lifted in the air. Rei stopped his assault and jumped backwards.

"Got sum power wit 'im, dis one." Ringo said to the man on his right. "Sure seems that way, cap." The man guwaffed. Long greasy hair streaked from his head covering his face, but Rei got a feeling from him like he was a wild animal.

Ringo grinned and yelled to Rei: "Ya din't tink I could stop tha, did ya?" You could see he relished in the feeling of a terrified opponent who was caught off guard, but Rei wasn't going to give him that satisfaction.

"On the contrary, I had expected at least some resistance from a pirate with a bounty of B20.000.000 on his head. You would have disappointed me otherwise."

That earned him a barking laugh from Ringo. "Well lookie 'ere, Rogue! He's got a bit of a brain too!" Starting his onslaught again, Rei yelled out, insulted: "I've got more than a bit of that!"

A flurry of slashes came down on the pirate's head, but it never reached. A longsword cleanly cut through all of them and when the dust settled down, Rei saw that it was Ringo's second subordinate who in one fluid motion had positioned himself between the youngster and his captain. Rei hadn't taken any notice of him until then.

"Allow me, capitain. I wish to see for myself what skills this youngling has." "E's all yours, Leloup." Ringo accepted and stepped aside to lean against a tree.

Furious Rei set off once more to Ringo, but was again interrupted by Leloup. "Your opponent is I, Leloup, the first mate of the Ruff pirates, youngling." "I have no interest in fighting an underling!. Fight with me Ringo!"

*Clang!*

Rei was forced back, away from Ringo and would have fallen if he hadn't jumped away from the assailant. Slashing the air at his sides, Leloup slowly advanced on our young swordsman.

"Our capitain doesn't wish to engage himself with you." Feeling the intimidation and suppressed blood thirst from his opponent, Rei knew he walked on thin ice, but he couldn't stop the words from coming out of his mouth.

"Well then he's a bloody coward, ain't he!"

The ice broke.

Rei immediately put up his guard, right on time, because Leloup came raging at him. A heated battle ensued. Both swords clashed multiple times and neither side was willing to yield.

But Leloup's keen eye noticed the slight instability in Rei's fighting style.

A word of explanation is needed here. Rei, you see, had made the biggest mistake a swordsman can make. As you know Koshiro had taught Rei the Isshin single sword style until Rei mastered it to a degree before giving him the scrolls of the 'The Way of Two' and teaching him a few moves he knew. And Rei, intent on unlocking his family's secret, concentrated mostly on that instead of broadening his horizon. He still practiced the Isshin style, but neglected it in favor of 'The Way of Two'.

A swordstyle must always grow with the swordsman and vice versa otherwise the art will stay static instead of an art.

Leloup saw that Rei hadn't made the Isshin style his own and took advantage of it. When the swords clashed together, he let go for a brief moment. Just enough to bring the young man out of balance. Rei recovered quickly but as he turned to his opponent again, Leloup's sword switched hands so quick that Rei didn't have the chance to fix his stance and received a slash in his gut.

The sword clattered out of his hand, out of his reach and wheezing he reached over to his stomach... but he felt no blood. It hurt a lot, yes, but there was no blood. Leloup had struck with the blunt side of the sword!

"Capitain said not to harm you…yet." Leloup sneered at the teenager who made great effort to stand up again. Just as he wanted to rise, Leloups sword was at his neck, threatening to slash his throat if he made an attempt to stand. "Ya'll have to wait for permission, boy." The other pirate, Rogue, cackled.

"Well Leloup?" Ringo demanded. "He shows much promise and will definitely be an asset to us, capitain."

Ringo smirked and asked Rei. "How big is ya family, boy?"

Sensing where this was going, but prepared to not give in, Rei yelled at him. "I'm not a boy, my name's is Rei! I'm an orphan and I will never join you!"

But Ringo didn't seem turned out because of that. "Gahaha! Great, hadn't had an orphan with sum spirit in 'im for a long time!"

A flash of red, that was all Rei saw. A loud bang was all he heard. And before he knew it, Leloup was flying in the air and landed some fifteen meters away from his captain and Rei. Before any of it could sink in with both parties, they heard a girl's voice ringing over the plaza.

"Didn't you hear him? He won't join you!"

It came from a tree nearby him. Rei looked up at it and nearly fell from surprise.

"Anne?! What are you doing here?!"

* * *

_Ta-dah! And I close the chapter on this cliffy. _

_Reviews are welcome! I love to hear what you thought about my writing, good or bad. :D_


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